Sometimes Dining

[1000yregg]

This past weekend I managed to score a seat at Sometimes Dining, an underground dining group here in Baltimore. I found out about them through a friend who wrote an article about them last fall.

When you sign up, you are sent an email with recommended wine pairings for the dinner as it is BYOB, and they let you know about the "recommended donation" for the dinner. This evening it was $20.

They were very friendly and welcoming to us even though it was our first visit and at our table there were folks who were their friends who had come before.

We started with homemade rye bread with alder smoked honey butter.

For our first course, we had a salad of shaved broccoli stalk with fresh beets, cashews and unikass cheese. With this they served a drink of hot black tea, root beer and ginger.

Course two was homemade cinnamon noodles in a mushroom reduction with duck breast and a red onion grapefruit confit.

This was followed by a palate cleanser, a shot of clove infused vodka.

Our main dish was poached hake wrapped in a scallion crepe, with a bacon frisee salad topped with a poached egg. All delicate parts nicely prepared.

We were then offered coffee made with Baltimore's Bluebird coffee- I had the cappuccino, and then a dessert of an apple compote in creme anglais with a sage shortbread cookie.

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The hosts have ties to various scenes in the Baltimore community- from Charm City Cakes to some of the indie music people that do DIY shows in town. It was like a great dinner party with a group of very welcome people, and the food was clearly thoughtful and adventurous for a home cooked meal (but for 30 people).

[1000yregg]

Made it to another Sometimes Dining dinner. I found out one of the chefs has a cooking blog that has been mentioned in Saveur called Six Course Dinner.

This dinner started with an amuse bouche of tuna rolled with radicchio & ricotta.

At the table, they also had a housemade charcuterie plate with garlic sausage, lardo, a date roll, olives, & crackers.

We started with a salad of fennel, jicama, and daikon with anchovy topped with a grapefruit chevre dressing.

The second course was a soup, described as "pho style" with spring vegetables and beef tenderloin. It seemed more like a lemongrass soup with a little chili oil, but it was nice.

We then shared a toast with the whole party with a drink of gin and melon.

Our entree was halibut with swiss chard on a bed of thyme noodles with a mussel sauce. Their homemade noodles are really good.

Dessert was a honey cake topped with Aleppo pepper whipped cream and a sauce made of beet puree.

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[KMango]

Made it to another Sometimes Dining dinner. I found out one of the chefs has a cooking blog that has been mentioned in Saveur called Six Course Dinner.

This dinner started with an amuse bouche of tuna rolled with radicchio & ricotta.

At the table, they also had a housemade charcuterie plate with garlic sausage, lardo, a date roll, olives, & crackers.

We started with a salad of fennel, jicama, and daikon with anchovy topped with a grapefruit chevre dressing.

The second course was a soup, described as "pho style" with spring vegetables and beef tenderloin. It seemed more like a lemongrass soup with a little chili oil, but it was nice.

We then shared a toast with the whole party with a drink of gin and melon.

Our entree was halibut with swiss chard on a bed of thyme noodles with a mussel sauce. Their homemade noodles are really good.

Dessert was a honey cake topped with Aleppo pepper whipped cream and a sauce made of beet puree.

pics

How's the social aspect of these events? Congenial and low-key? Or enthusiastic and effervescent? Or somewhere in between? Since you have now experienced it twice, I am hoping you can frame a general opinion about the tone of the night. Seems like it could be a huge asset (or detriment!), thoughts welcomed.

[1000yregg]

How's the social aspect of these events? Congenial and low-key? Or enthusiastic and effervescent? Or somewhere in between? Since you have now experienced it twice, I am hoping you can frame a general opinion about the tone of the night. Seems like it could be a huge asset (or detriment!), thoughts welcomed.

When you arrive, the people who run the event and live there are really friendly. They are happy to talk about the food and what they do. For first timers, they treat you with a complimentary drink. You also end up sitting at large communal tables, and both times, the guests all were very open and genuinely interested in this mixed company that has come together. I've had a great time on both occasions.

[1000yregg]

I went to another Sometimes Dining event this past sunday.

It might have been the best yet.

This time we sat outdoors under a large tarp in their backyard. Ended up talking to crew guys for Ace of Cakes.

We started with the same charcuterie plate we had last time.

Our first entree was a pan seared baby artichoke with spring onion pesto served on a cider crepe. This was followed by a cool dish of sliced grilled bison with vanilla black-eyed peas, a smoked egg, and grapefruit zest.

The middle drink was Aperol with prosecco.

We then snacked on fresh endive with a tarragon dip.

The main course was homemade beet and goat cheese ravioli served with prosciutto and olive oil- this was a fantastic dish.

I also loved dessert- minted tres leches cake with candied rhubarb.

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[1000yregg]

Sometimes Dining started doing dinners for 2011 last night. I convince olironstomach and gubeen to come along.

They are changing their format- serving a smaller number of diners (from 30ish to 20) and making the dishes family style. They were hoping to make it more social, and I think the new system works.

The meal was good- we started with an amuse of halibut, radish, & oregano. The first course was bison topped with grapefruit, radicchio and fried leeks served with lentils, beets, and fresh dill.

This was followed by two "snacks"- homemade pork rillettes with homemade sourdough bread and artichoke with fennel butter for dipping.

The trou normande was ginger infused porato vodka, and our last savory dish was homemade raviolis with swiss chard pesto, mushroom duxelle, and egg yolk.

Dessert was reaaly good- chocolate salted shortbread topped with rye ice cream accompanied by marzipan lined with candied lemon. We also got some black pepper nutmeg chocolates.

The price point has gone up this year to a whopping $25/person.

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